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Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is viewed by policy makers and practitioners as facilitating the achievement of a balance between water resources use and protection, and the resolution of water-related conflicts. The IWRM approach has found particular use in the new water policies of Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe, where water scarcity, after the land question, is perceived to be a major threat to political, economic, social, military and environmental security. Ultimately, IWRM is seen as providing a framework towards ensuring broader security at the local, national, regional and global levels. However, the pilot phase implementation of the new water policy in the various regional countries has revealed that although the legal and institutional frameworks have been put in place, the implementation of the IWRM approach has tended to be problematic (Latham, 2001; GTZ, 2000; Leestemaker, 2000; Savenige & van der Zaag, 2000; Sithole, 2000). This study adopts a case study approach and empirically examines the institutional challenges of implementing the IWRM approach in the post-pilot phase of Zimbabwe's new water policy. The focus is mainly on the institutional arrangements surrounding the Pungwe-Mutare Water Supply Project located within the Save Catchment Area in Eastern Zimbabwe. The major finding of the study is that, while there are some problems associated with the traditional management approach, there have also emerged new challenges to IWRM. These mainly relate to the transaction costs of the water sector reforms, institutional resilience, stakeholder participation, and the achievement of the desired outcomes. There have also been problems emanating from unexpected political developments at the local and national levels, particularly with regard to the government's "fast track" land resettlement programme. The study also raises some questions concerning the ideological bases of IWRM and the conceptualization of the institutional problem.

Aktiebolag är en av de vanligaste bolagsformerna och förekommer i två skilda former, publika och privata. Vid uppstart av ett aktiebolag, oavsett form, krävs ett aktiekapital, men det som skiljer dem åt är dess storlek. För att starta ett privat aktiebolag krävs idag ett aktiekapital på 25 000 kr, vilket ändrades från 50 000 kr den 1 januari 2020 som följd av att förslaget Ds 2019:6 fick genomslagskraft. Förslaget sändes ut till ett antal utvalda instanser som Justitiedepartementet ville erhålla synpunkter från. Samtidigt hade övriga allmänheten också möjlighet att inkomma med synpunkter, utan att det blivit tillfrågade. Responsen till förslaget Ds 2019:6 utgjordes av totalt 47 remissvar från olika instanser.  Problemdiskussionen i studien indikerar på att det råder delad mening angående aktiekapitalets storlek och funktion. Detta leder fram till studiens syfte, att undersöka intressenternas attityder, utifrån inkomna remissvar, gällande lagändringen av aktiekapitalets sänkning från 50 000 kr till 25 000 kr för privata aktiebolag. Utöver detta syftar studien även till att undersöka om intressenternas attityder har haft en påverkan på beslutet att sänka aktiekapitalet. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys valts, då huvudmomentet i studien består av att analysera de inkomna remissvaren gällande förslaget Ds 2019:6. I studien har även en abduktiv forskningsansats valts, då en ren induktiv ansats eller en ren deduktiv ansats inte anses vara aktuell. Studien omfattar ett totalurval på 47 instanser, då samtliga remissvar har bearbetats, vilket utgör studiens empiri och ligger till grund för studiens analys.  De instanser som utgör studiens empiri har delats in i olika intressentkategorier utifrån en modifierad intressentmodell. Kategorierna som förekommer i studien är följande: myndigheter, lärosäten, ideella föreningar, domstolar, branschorganisationer och företagsfrämjande organisationer. Utifrån intressentkategorierna presenteras instansernas initiala inställning samt en redogörelse av remissvaren, där det skapas en uppfattning att instanserna har relativt liknande synpunkter. Till följd av studiens analys dras slutsatserna att det är svårt att generalisera den allmänna attityden samt att instanserna inte har haft en större påverkan än vad den initiala inställningen indikerat på gällande attityden till förslaget Ds 2019:6. / Limited companies are one of the most common forms of company and occur in two different forms, public and private. When starting a limited company, regardless of form, a share capital is required, but what distinguishes them is its size. To start a private limited company, a share capital of SEK 25,000 is required today, which was changed from SEK 50,000 on January 1st, 2020 as a result of the impact of proposal Ds 2019:6. The proposal was sent out to a number of selected instances from which the Justitiedepartementet wanted to receive comments. At the same time, the rest of the public also had the opportunity to submit comments, without being asked. The response to the proposal Ds 2019: 6 consisted of a total of 47 consultation responses from various instances.  The problem discussion in the study indicates that there is a divided opinion regarding the size and function of the share capital. This leads to the purpose of the study, to examine the stakeholders' attitudes, based on comments received, regarding the law change of the share capital reduction from SEK 50,000 to SEK 25,000 for private limited companies. In addition to this, the study also aims to investigate whether the stakeholders' attitudes have had an impact on the decision to reduce the share capital. To achieve the purpose of the study, a qualitative content analysis has been chosen, as the main part of the study consists of analyzing the comments received regarding the proposal Ds 2019:6. In the study, an abductive research approach has also been chosen, as a pure inductive approach or a pure deductive approach is not considered relevant. The study comprises a total sample of 47 instances, as all consultation responses have been processed, which constitutes the study's empirical data and forms the basis for the study's analysis.  The instances that make up the study's empirical data have been divided into different stakeholder categories based on a modified stakeholder model. The categories that appear in the study are the following: authorities, universities, non-profit associations, courts, industry associations and business promotion organizations. Based on the stakeholder categories, the instances' initial attitude is presented, as well as an account of the consultation responses, where an opinion is created that the instances have relatively similar views. As a result of the study's analysis, the conclusions are drawn that it is difficult to generalize the general attitude and that the instances have not had a greater impact than what the initial attitude indicated on the current attitude to the proposal Ds 2019: 6.

I slutet på 2019 sattes en projektgrupp ihop av IFRS Foundation, med målet att undersöka intressenters efterfrågan på redovisning för hållbarhet och ta reda på vad IFRS Foundations kunde göra för att svara på den eventuella efterfrågan. Detta mynnade ut i ett dokument som kallas consultation paper on sustainability reporting, som släpptes i september 2020. Dokumentet behandlar det eventuella behovet av globala redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet, huruvida IFRS Foundation ska vara delaktiga och i så fall hur mycket. IFRS Foundation presenterar ett förslag om ett Sustainability Standards Board, som innebär att, under styrning av IFRS Foundation, utveckla globala redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet. Problemdiskussionen för studien presenterar olika intressenters behov av redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet samt hur utbudet på redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet ser ut idag, vilket resulterade i studiens syfte. Studiens första syfte är att undersöka hur olika intressenters attityder skiljer sig åt gällande huruvida det finns ett behov av globala redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet. Det andra syftet är att undersöka hur intressenters attityder skiljer sig åt huruvida IFRS Foundation kan använda sina relationer för att för att främja ett redovisningsramverk för hållbarhet, och ifall ett sådant ramverk bör verka under IFRS Foundation. Studien har använt sig av en abduktiv forskningsansats som utgångspunkt, vilket implicerar både deduktiva och induktiva inslag. Intentionen med studien har varit att analysera och tolka dokument för att få en djupare förståelse för intressenternas kommentarer, vilket har resulterat i att en kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts. Den 11 februari hade IFRS Foundation tagit emot 577 kommentarer från intressenter. Urvalsprocessen resulterade i totalt 277 av dessa som är utgångspunkt för studiens empiri och analys. Studiens resultat visar på att en stark majoritet av intressenterna menar att det finns ett behov av globala redovisningsstandarder för hållbarhet och att de lämpligen kan operera under IFRS Foundations struktur. Resultatet framför även att respondenterna värdesätter IFRS Foundations intressenter och relationer de har utvecklat under arbetet med finansiell redovisning. Däremot att de saknar expertis och erfarenhet från hållbarhetsarbete. Studiens slutsatser är att det inte framkom några skillnader mellan intressentgruppernas attityder i någon av aspekterna, då i princip alla är positiva till IFRS Foundations frågor. Detta ger i sig en signal att IFRS Foundations förslag om att skapa Sustainability Standards Board bör förverkligas, men att de bör göras i samarbete med andra initiativ. / At the end of 2019, a project group was put together by IFRS Foundation, with the goal of examining stakeholders' demand for accounting for sustainability and finding out what IFRS Foundations could do to respond to any demand. This resulted in a document called consultation paper on sustainability reporting, which was released in September 2020. The document addresses the possible need for global accounting standards for sustainability, whether IFRS Foundation should be involved and, if so, how much. IFRS Foundation presents a proposal for a Sustainability Standards Board, which involves, under the direction of the IFRS Foundation, developing global accounting standards for sustainability. The problem discussion for the study presents different stakeholders' needs for accounting standards for sustainability and what the range of accounting standards for sustainability looks like today, which resulted in the purpose of the study. The first purpose of the study is to examine how the attitudes of different stakeholders differ regarding whether there is a need for global accounting standards for sustainability. The second purpose is to examine how stakeholders' attitudes differ as to whether the IFRS Foundation can use its relationships to promote an accounting framework for sustainability, and whether such a framework should operate under the IFRS Foundation. The study has used an abductive research approach as a starting point, which means both deductive and inductive elements. The intention of the study has been to analyse and interpret documents to gain a deeper understanding of the stakeholders' comments, which has resulted in the use of a qualitative content analysis. As of February 11, it had received 577 comments from stakeholders. The selection process resulted in a total of 277 comment letters, which is the foundation of the study's empirical and analytic component. The results of the study show that a strong majority of stakeholders believe that there is a need for global accounting standards for sustainability and that they can appropriately operate under the governance structure of the IFRS Foundation. The result also states that respondents value IFRS Foundation's stakeholders and relationships they have developed during their work with financial accounting. However, they lack expertise and experience from sustainability work. The conclusion is that there were no differences between stakeholder groups in any of the aspects, since virtually everyone is in favour of IFRS Foundation's issues. This sends a signal that the IFRS Foundation's proposal to create the Sustainability Standards Board should be implemented, but that they should be implemented in cooperation with other initiatives.This master's thesis is written in Swedish.

Summary in English and Afrikaans / CSR has become a priority for many key businesses, particularly in light of codes of practice such as the 2009, The King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa 2009 (often referred to as King III Report). Effective CSR is dependent on efficient communication between and with stakeholders and businesses, yet the quality of these communications is seldom evaluated. While the literature emphasises the importance of stakeholder engagement, little attention is given to the communication processes used during stakeholder engagement. This study asserts that Integrated Communication (IC) offers a multi-pronged approach for engaging with an organisations’ diverse stakeholders and, when incorporated holistically, aligns CSR throughout an organisation. This study uses a framework drawn from IC theory as a means of analysing the efficiency of stakeholder engagement within Anglo American South Africa (AASA), a company explicitly dedicated to CSR. A single embedded case study research design is employed, including a review of main CSR documents used by AASA, interviews with key communications staff, as well as a focus group on site with key staff members. The research revealed that although AASA is in many ways doing a laudable job in terms of stakeholder engagement, there are key points at which their efforts break down. This is due, in most part; firstly to a lack of integrated awareness throughout the broader business of what constitutes its stated CSR agenda; and secondly to a lack of executive power within the communications department of the business. It is suggested that by following the proposed IC framework, and investing key communications personnel with executive power rather than merely supportive responsibility, the effectiveness of AASA’s stakeholder engagement would be improved. This would improve the likelihood of an effective strategic CSR’s success, and be of value to the organisation. / Korporatiewe Maatskaplike Verantwoordelikheid (KMV) het 'n prioriteit geword vir baie belangrike besighede, veral in die lig van gedragskodes soos die 2009 derde King verslag oor korporatiewe bestuur. Effektiewe KMV is afhanklik van doeltreffende kommunikasie tussen en met belanghebbendes en besighede, maar die gehalte van hierdie kommunikasie is selde geëvalueer. Terwyl die literatuur beklemtoon die belangrikheid van die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes, is min aandag gegee aan die kommunikasie- prosesse wat gebruik word tydens die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes. Hierdie studie voer aan dat Geïntegreerde Kommunikasie (GK) 'n multi-ledige benadering bied vir die aangaan met organisasies se diverse belanghebbendes en, wanneer holisties opgeneem, lyn 'n organisasie deurgaans in met KMV. Hierdie studie maak gebruik van 'n raamwerk wat uit GK teorie as 'n middel van die ontleding van die doeltreffendheid wat met belanghebbendes binne Anglo American Suid-Afrika (AASA) uitvloei, 'n maatskappy uitdruklik gewy aan KMV. 'n Enkele navorste gevallestudie is gebruik, insluitend 'n oorsig van die belangrikste KMV dokumente, onderhoude met sleutel kommunikasie personeel sowel as 'n fokusgroep met belangrike personeel op die terrein. Die navorsing toon dat alhoewel AASA is in baie maniere om 'n lofwaardige werk in terme van die betrokkenheid van belanghebbendes handhaaf, is daar belangrike punte waarop hul pogings kort kom. Dit is te danke oorsaaklik; eerstens 'n gebrek aan geïntegreerde bewustheid regdeur die breër organisasie wat sy verklaarde KMV agenda uitmaak, en tweedens 'n gebrek van die uitvoerende gesag in die kommunikasie-afdeling van die besigheid. Daar word voorgestel dat die voorgestelde GK raamwerk kruis organisatoriese bewustheid van AASA se KMV agenda sou bevorder, en die organisasie dwing om belangrike kommunikasie personeel te belê met uitvoerende gesag eerder as bloot ondersteunende verantwoordelikheid. Dit sal op sy beurt die doeltreffendheid van AASA se betrokkenheid verseker. Die waarskynlikheid van strategiese KMV se sukses te verbeter, en van waarde wees vir die organisasie as geheel. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

The purpose of this study is to in depth examine how two companies in retail business work with investments in AI and similar technology and to investigate what role these investments had for the two companies. Retail plays an important role in the Swedish economy and accounts for one tenth of Sweden's GDP. The industry has undergone extensive digital development in recent years, which has led to companies being forced to make large investments in new technology such as AI in order to maintain their competitiveness. Through a qualitative interview study, two case companies in the retail business that target clothing are studied. The results show that both companies at different levels work with investments in AI technology. They both find great benefits with these investments mainly in the form of increased value for their customers. They also see that these investments are necessary to maintain their competitiveness in the market. The risks that emerge through the survey are mainly based on an integrity perspective when collecting data and the employees' barriers to change. / Syftet med denna undersökning är att på djupet studera hur två företag inom detaljhandeln arbetar med investeringar i AI och liknande teknik samt undersöka vilken roll dessa investeringar haft för de två företagen. Detaljhandeln fyller en viktig funktion inom den svenska ekonomin och står för en tiondel av Sveriges BNP. Branschen har de senaste åren genomgått en omfattande digital utveckling vilket lett till att företag tvingats genomföra stora investeringar i ny teknik som AI för att bibehålla sin konkurrenskraft. Genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie studeras två fallföretag inom detaljhandeln som riktar sig mot konfektion. Resultatet visar på att båda fallföretagen på olika nivåer arbetar med investeringar i AI-teknik. De finner båda stora fördelar med dessa investeringar främst i form av ökat värde för sina kunder. De ser även att dessa investeringar är nödvändiga för att bibehålla sin konkurrenskraft på marknaden. De risker som framkommer genom undersökningen grundar sig främst i integritetsperspektiv vid insamling av data samt de anställdas förändringsbarriärer.

The doctoral thesis deals with the concept of corporate social responsibility in supplier-customer relationship. A corporate social responsibility is a current issue related to many areas of the society. The media usually presents the topic in connection with a market behavior or behavior to employees or other subjects or in their relation to environmental issues. Both OSN and EU have been interested in this issue since 1990´s because they perceive the social responsibility as a way to a sustainable development. The crucial thing is that even the companies themselves, which should be the “executor”, started to be interested in its implementation. The thesis analyses the situation on the business market in the Czech Republic in the field of corporate social responsibility issue. Moreover, the thesis investigates the researches of the current state of the theoretical knowledge of the issue for the purpose of the thesis, a large-scale research was carried. The research investigated to what degree the corporate social responsibility influences the supplier-customer relationship. However, above all the research was focused on the existence of the codes of conduct of the suppliers and also the sequence between codes of conduct set by customer to company and codes of conduct set by company to supplier. The third key area of the research was to find out to what degree the corporate social responsibility contributes to the overall evaluation of a supplier by a company. The analysis of the data collected served for the acceptance of rejection of the hypotheses stated at the beginning of the thesis. The results and the findings gained are summed up at the end of the thesis. The practical as well as the theoretical contributions are mentioned as well.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges and opportunities in the communication between software developers and their stakeholders, as well as the impact that the product owners have on the communication. The research was conducted using a case study approach, and data was mainly collected through observations andinterviews with product owners and software developers at the case company Kry. The findings show that the challenges in communication are the technical language of software developers, difficulty for stakeholders to understand the software development process and difficulty for developers to understand the underlying context of a feature request. The opportunities in their communication are that the developers can better understand the reasons of a request and thus feel more engaged in the product and more satisfied towards the company; Good communication can cut development time and cost. The product owner is shown to be almost irreplaceable due to the large impact that they have. They become translators between the developers and stakeholders, enabling them to communicate better. Furthermore, they are the main point of contact for the stakeholders, thus allowing the developers to focus more on doing development work. However, this might sometimes result in that the developers get involved too late in the process, making changes costly when they discover something faulty. As a conclusion, the communication between stakeholders and developers powered by product owners greatly enhance the possibility to build good, maintainable software and lead to a more sustainable work environment for all involved. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunikationen mellan mjukvaruutvecklare och stakeholders, samt den påverkan som produktägare har på kommunikationen. Detta gjordes genom en fallstudie och data är i huvudsak insamlad genom observationer och intervjuer med produktägare och utvecklare på företaget Kry. Resultatet visar att utmaningar i kommunikationen är mjukvaruutvecklarnas tekniska språk, svårigheter för stakeholders att förstå mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen och för utvecklarna att förstå de bakomliggande anledningarna för en kravändring. Möjligheter i kommunikationen är att utvecklarna bättre kan förstå de här anledningarna och därför bli mer engagerade i produkten och känna sig mer nöjda med företaget; bra kommunikation kan minska utvecklingskostnader och tid. Produktägare visar sig vara nästan oersättliga på grund av den stora påverkan de har. De blir översättare mellan utvecklare och stakeholders, och hjälper dem att kommunicera bättre. De blir också den huvudsakliga kontaktpersonen för stakeholders, vilket ger utvecklarna mer möjligheter att fokusera på deras utvecklingsarbete. Dock kan det resultera i att utvecklarna ibland blir inblandade för sent i processen, vilket gör potentiella behov av förändringar dyra när de upptäcker något som är fel. Sammanfattningsvis, när kommunikationen mellan stakeholder och utvecklare är faciliterad av produktägare så ökar möjligheterna för att bygga bra mjukvaraoch det leder till en mer hållbar arbetsmiljö för alla inblandade.

Research questions: What effects can institutional pressures have on firms' sustainable activities? How can firms interact with their stakeholders to overcome the challenge of being sustainable and profitable?  Purpose: As sustainability is on the agenda for institutions worldwide, there is relevance in elevating the understanding of how institutional pressures impact firms' sustainable activities, and what mechanisms that firms can incorporate when developing CSR activities. Thus, we wish to contribute to the strategic benefits of stakeholder interaction to balance profitability and sustainability.  Method: Explorative, qualitative, case study. Conclusion: Institutional pressures have a significant impact on firms’ sustainable activities where the two main drivers are laws and regulations and the market demand. As a result, the main activities that these pressures bring forth include sustainability reporting, certifications, decreasing the carbon footprints, and the delivery of EPDs to the customers. Stakeholder interaction such as communication and collaboration can foster sustainable development and give a deeper understanding of mutually beneficial outcomes that enables firms to balance profitability and sustainability.

Unternehmen sind mehr und mehr dem globalen Wettbewerb, strengeren gesetzlichen Regelungen und veränderten Kundenbedürfnissen ausgesetzt. Durch eine Neuausrichtung des Unternehmens auf Stakeholder-Management können sich Entscheidungsträger an veränderte Marktbedingungen anpassen. Der vorliegende Beitrag ist ein Leitfaden zum Stakeholder-Management der gemeinsam mit Nachhaltigkeitsexperten von PricewaterhouseCoopers entwickelt wurde. Er besteht aus den Schritten (i) Strategisch Denken, (ii) Analyse und Priorisierung der Stakeholder und ihrer Ansprüche, (iii) Aufbau von Kapazitäten zum Stakeholder-Management, (iv) Stakeholder-Kommunikation sowie (v) Kommunikation und Lernen. Der vorliegende Leitfaden ist der erste, der explizit die Bedürfnisse von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen und Familienunternehmen einbezieht. Obwohl diese Unternehmen oft explizit oder implizit Stakeholder-Management in ihrer Unternehmensphilosophie verankert haben, fehlen häufig strukturierte Ansätze und Management-Tools hierfür. Dieser Leitfaden gibt Managern in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen sowie Familienunternehmen eine praktische Handhabe für ihr Stakeholder-Management. / Firms are facing more global competition, more stringent regulation and a faster change of customer needs. Managers can adapt to changed market dynamics with increased stakeholder management. Together with sustainability experts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers we develop a guideline for stakeholder management consisting of the steps (i) think strategically, (ii) analysis and prioritization of stakeholders and their stakes (iii) capacity building for stakeholder management (iv) stakeholder information (v) communication and learning. It builds on Freeman (1984) and defines stakeholder as “any group or individual who can affect or can be affected by the achievement of anorganisation’s objectives”. The proposed stakeholder guideline is the first, which fulfils the needs of small and medium sized enterprises and family owned businesses. While these companies often have explicitly or implicitly embodied stakeholder management corporate philosophy, structured approaches and management tools are still missing. Our guideline givesmanagers in small and medium sized enterprises and family owned businesses a practical tool for stakeholder management.